Seychelles Insights – Before Departure

Arrival and Transfers – Our trip to the Seychelles took 18 hours from Milan with a connection through Doha, Qatar. Upon arrival, we picked-up a rental car (booked through US) so we’d be able to tour the island and do our provisioning. After a brief nap at the Sunrise hotel (not recommended), we headed into central Vitoria, Mahe’ for lunch at Le Rendez-vous Restaurant & Lounge Bar

After a brief walk in downtown Victoria and a visit to Sunsail’s base, we prepared for our dinner at Marie Antoinette (highly recommended fixed creole menu).

Charter Company – We charted with Sunsail and met Neal at the base. He was extremely accommodating allowing us to store our provisions before boarding Monkey Business. The area briefing was very detailed and proved important for our trip provisioning.

Notes:

Accommodations in the Seychelles can be quite expensive. We arranged a private house rental through Neal of Sunsail for our last night in the Seychelles and it worked out fantastically.

If renting a car, be prepared to drive on the left in a right hand drive vehicle like the United Kingdom.

The pirates have attacked mostly along the coastline and the Seychelles seem to be beyond there range. We really weren’t concerned when chartering in the Northern Island group in 2008. There’s a google map tracking the attacks

Update (November 2009): In October 2009, a British couple was taken from their boat while making the crossing from the Seychelles to Africa. Though not in the actual Seychelles cruising grounds, this is the closest the Somalian pirates have operated to date.